Heavyweight boxing & mixed martial arts ratings and commentary

October 2013

October 10, 2013

Alexander Povetkin lost for the first time in his career, but like so many others he lost to a Klitschko and that can't really be held against him. The loss was extremely lopsided—119-105 on all three scorecards—but the actual fight was "closer" than most Klitschko shutouts as Povetkin actually made Wladimir work for every round he got.

So where does Povetkin rank now among the challengers? Clearly the Klitschko brothers are #1 and #2. We had Povetkin #3 before the fight, and his lead over #4 Kubrat Pulev was so big that even after the loss he retains his #3 ranking.

But if we want to use our human ingenuity rather than a cold,
calculating computer algorithm, should Povetkin drop for his loss? We
can compare Povetkin's résumé to the others in the top 10 and get an
answer.

The first thing to note is that of the 8 non-Klitschkos in the top
ten, 3 are undefeated and all of the other five have lost to a
Klitschko. Of those five, we can assume that Chris Arreola and Ruslan Chagaev
are not candidates for the #3 position since they have other losses to
fighters in the top ten. So we will only compare Povetkin to Kubrat Pulev, Tyson Fury, Robert Helenius, Tomasz Adamek, and David Haye.
We're not comparing styles or deciding who would beat who, but thinking
about who has accomplished more and deserves to be ranked higher at
this moment.

Sportsratings Heavyweight top 10 through October 5, 2013

-3Yr

-1Yr

-6mo

Oct 1Rank

Oct 6Rank

Fighter

Rating

Rated Record

October results

1

1

1

1

1

WLAD KLITSCHKO

76.78

39-3-0

UD 12 #3 ALEX POVETKIN

2

2

2

2

2

VITALI KLITSCHKO

47.75

27-2-0

last win -13 months.

3

3

3

3

3

ALEX POVETKIN

28.30

20-1-0

L UD 12 #1 WLAD KLITSCHKO

22

4

6

4

4

KUBRAT PULEV

27.36

12-0-0

70

5

4

5

5

TYSON FURY

24.72

11-0-0

16

6

5

6

6

ROBERT HELENIUS

24.55

11-0-0

6

7

7

7

7

TOMASZ ADAMEK

22.08

10-1-0

4

9

8

8

8

RUSLAN CHAGAEV

18.63

16-2-0

UD 12 #111 JOVO PUDAR

17

8

26

9

9

CHRIS ARREOLA

18.01

20-3-0

5

11

9

10

10

DAVID HAYE

17.73

6-1-0

last win -15 months.

In each case we will review their relevant record against only boxers who have been active in the last five years, using the opponents' current ranking in our system.

It's hard to differentiate between these fighters! The ones who haven't lost yet to a Klitschko probably would, so we can't count that as a major factor in ranking. When looking at the top victory for each fighter Povetkin and Adamek have an edge, having beaten top ten fighters Ruslan Chagaev and Chris Arreola respectively. Three others (Fury, Helenius, and Haye) all count Dereck Chisora as their top accomplishment, and Kubrat Pulev beat Tony Thompson which has to be about as respected.

Pulev and Fury have the most top 100 wins with 3 each, while Helenius lags with just one—and many people think he lost that fight. So dock Helenius a point for that.

And for total wins at heavyweight over relevant competition, Fury leads with 11, Pulev is 2nd with 10, Povetkin and Helenius have 8 each, Adamek 7, and Haye just 4.

Added up, it depends on how much extra credit you give Povetkin and Adamek for their top ten wins. If it's a lot, they should be #3 and #4. If it isn't much, then Fury and Pulev might deserve to be #3 and #4. No matter what, Helenius' lack of top 100 wins keeps him at #7, and Haye's lack of fights period should put him last on the list.

Things could change when Haye battles Fury in February—assuming that fight happens this time. Adamek is fighting #11 Vyacheslav Glazkov on November 16. And with Povetkin's loss, we assume that maybe he'll be mixing it up with some of the others on the list, now that he doesn't have to protect his unbeaten record to keep a Klitschko fight on the horizon? We can only hope that instead of comparing these fighters on paper we might be able to make more head-to-head comparisons.